wrapper

From Middle English wrappere, equivalent to wrap +‎ -er.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæpɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: rapper
• Hyphenation: wrap‧per
• Rhymes: -æpə(ɹ)

wrapper (plural wrappers)

1. Something that is wrapped around something else as a cover or protection: a wrapping.
2. An outer garment; a loose robe or dressing gown.
   • 1839, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘William Wilson’:

     ‘Please to examine, at your leisure, the inner linings of the cuff of his left sleeve, and the several little packages which may be found in the somewhat capacious pockets of his embroidered morning wrapper.’

   • 1855, Charles Dickens, The Holly-Tree

     It was eight o'clock to-morrow evening when I buckled up my travelling writing-desk in its leather case, paid my Bill, and got on my warm coats and wrappers.

3. One who, or that which, wraps.

   He proved to be a remarkably efficient wrapper of parcels.

4. (object-oriented programming) A construct, such as a class or module, that serves to mediate access to another.

   We need a Perl wrapper for this C++ library.

• In the computing sense, wrapper is often used attributively: one can speak of a “wrapper class”, a “wrapper object”, a “wrapper function”, and so on. More broadly, one can speak of the “wrapper pattern”, which is a general term for the creation and use of such wrappers.

• (construct that mediates access): adapter
• wrapper class
• primitive wrapper class

• → Mmen: lapa

• prewrap